Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show” replacement — media mogul and standup comic Byron Allen — appeared to shake off a massive ratings drop after CBS replaced the longtime host, according to a Los Angeles Times interview.
Viewership to the show dropped by 85 percent since Colbert left, The Daily Beast reported.
Allen worked out a $15 million “time-buy model” deal with CBS and his company Allen Media Group, according to The Times. He pays CBS, and keeps advertising revenue.
But the first viewership figures saw the floor drop out of viewership for the time spot.
“The final episode of The Late Show attracted 6.7 million viewers — its highest-ever weeknight viewership — and the next night at 11:35 pm, Allen’s Comics Unleashed garnered just 995,000 viewers. On June 1, the first day when rival late-night hosts aired new episodes following Colbert’s exit, Comics Unleashed dropped to only 628,000 viewers,” The Daily Beast reported.
Critics called it a “ratings disaster,” according to The Times.
“But Allen, typically, was not fazed, saying his show bested the competition in key markets and was more comparable with the same time period last May before Colbert’s post-cancellation victory lap,” The Times reported.
He compared the viewership to the numbers Colbert landed this time last year, and said he wasn’t worried. He argued the network had made a savings maneuver, estimating that the previous “programming was costing the network more than $200 million.”
“CBS has won big-time because they have zero production costs and now they are saving $55 million a year,” Allen told The Times.
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